Varus
Breakdown Varus is widely considered to be the go-to man for successful Tier RP on Steam. His most successful and most famous tier is called Colonial Empires RP Tier (CE-RP), which is one of very few Steam locations where tier RP has continued with great stability, uninterrupted, for a great length of time. Roleplay in the tier began on June 29th of 2014 and continues to this day. The starting date was 1745. As of writing this, the year is now 1909. Career Humble Beginnings Varus started his RP career by mistake. A Steam friend who he did not know frequently sent him invitations to RP groups, which he promptly ignored. Eventually, however, Varus actually decided to look at the group he was invited to. It was an Ottoman Empire group run by a long-retired and possibly forgotten roleplayer commonly known as Numidian. Varus took his first step into RP as the governor of Yemen, and became one of the group's few active governors. Where Numidian Leads, Varus Did Follow Numidian became the first influence on the direction of Varus' evolution towards his higher status of today. The two had become close because Varus was an eager participant in Numidian's group even when other players remained obscure and inactive. Eventually, fed up with the group's inactivity, Numidian would switch groups, make new ones, etc., and Varus followed along. Each one ended similarly, however. The culmination of this relationship was the Colonial RP Tier founded by Numidian. It was a bizarre and new concept for Varus; he'd never been in a tier before. Colonial RP became very popular for its short existence. When it died, it did so not out of loss of activity; Colonial died when Numidian, for one reason or another, pulled the plug on the tier and his entire influential career with it. From Nation RP to Tier RP The next phase of Varus' career development came along in a tier known as Imperial RP, run by a fellow commonly known as Brandy. Varus became "the Union of Mexico" in that tier, and the tier dictated that each nation have a nation RP group associated with it. This brought about The Union of Mexico as the first RP group that Varus owned. He invited all of the roleplayers on his friends list, and made regular announcements about developments in the tier and how they related to Mexico. However, he was disheartened to find, after perhaps a month of dedication to the group, that nobody gave a damn. A single person signed up to have a position in Mexico's government, and that person did absolutely nothing about it. Nobody ever commented on the announcements or showed any sign of life. This was a turning point for Varus' roleplaying ideology. He concluded that fundamentally, people want to be in charge, and they want their roleplay to have a tangible outcome. He therefore argued that necessitating these nation RP groups in order to sign up for a tier was completely pointless. Moreover, Varus never again so much as attempted Nation RP again, preferring the tier environment. Note that this was a pretty uncommon conclusion at the time; tiers were widely--and quite accurately--seen as pits of failure where the uncommitted and unprofessional players went to roleplay for 2 weeks before it all fell apart. Varus was among the few outside of the mainstream who had faith in the tier format. Foot in the Door: Wilhelm, John, Repeat Eventually, as Imperial RP faded, the hunt for another tier was on. This time, Varus stumbled upon a Victorian Era RP Tier headed by one Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm was looking for a mapper, and Varus had learned how to do just that. As a matter of fact, Varus made the entire Victorian RP map for Wilhelm without even being asked for it. Upon seeing the finished piece, Wilhelm offered Varus an admin position. Making maps was Varus' foot in the door to enter tier administration, and he began by serving Wilhelm in Victorian RP. Wilhelm, however, was unprepared for the leadership role and allowed any member to post announcements rather than strictly moderators only. As one might have predicted, the group got spammed hard and that was the end of it. While most were content to let Wilhelm start fresh, a rival emerged: John. John was always ambitious, and was able to convince all of the players to migrate to his "Victoria Smart Edition" tier. John's leadership of the community formed by Wilhelm was characterized with authoritarianism and corruption. It was now that Varus became popular in this circle for his integrity in his job. The community shifted between groups made by Wilhelm and John a few more times before it became clear: the community wanted Varus in charge. Colonial Empires RP Tier The flagship of the Varus brand has always been his first tier, Colonial Empires RP Tier--so named as a small tribute to Numidian and his popular Colonial RP Tier. CE-RP has been characterized as being different from the many failed tiers of the past due to the enforcement of realism. CE-RP is a much more serious and sober type of tier experience as opposed to the ravenous growth and destruction of empires in matters of days often seen in tiers such as those run by Wilhelm and John. Today, CE-RP is arguably the largest success story in the history of tier RP on Steam. Varus has been assisted by many fine roleplayers he met along the journey to the present, including Kaiser of Greater Germany, CrusaderVW, Perry, and Antarctican. Colonial Empires RP Tier Basic Functionality The tier began in 1745 with a map including countries and prominent tribes of the time, as well as uncolonized land. Players using a capable nation could colonize two of these blank regions per year. One year is considered to be three real-life days. Players have to fight other players (or AI) to take land from another country in Empire or Napoleon Total War. Approximately 3 regions will be granted per battle won. Players associated with a relevant clan or tournament are not permitted to play. Advanced Rules Power By Region (PBR) - a rule that is the calling card of Varus tiers. Battles in Napoleon are not always 1v1 under this rule. The amount of armies each player gets has to do with their relative power in the region. As an example, Bavaria vs Austria would grant Austria 2 armies in battle for 1 Bavarian army. However, if France were to assist Bavaria, it would be a 1v1 again. This rule is meant to enforce realism and discourage nations from recklessly entering more wars than they could logically handle. Characteristics Somewhat due to PBR, CE-RP has become characterized as an in-depth RP tier with low focus on wars